Clifford Lee Lord was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on September 4, 1912. He attended elementary school in that community and graduated from A.B. Davis High School. He went on to study at Amherst College, receiving an A.B. in history in 1933, and an M.A. in American history in 1934. He then went to Columbia University to pursue his doctorate. While doing so, he worked as a lecturer and later an instructor in American history in the University Extension from 1935 to 1941. Clifford Lord received his Ph.D. in American History from Columbia University in 1943.
Between 1935 and 1942, he was employed as a project supervisor and consultant to the Federal Historical Records Survey program working both in New York City and New Jersey. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management of several projects. These included compiling and editing the messages and papers of the presidents (1896-1936); designing base maps for each house of each Congress, working out district lines, compiling all roll call votes, mapping each roll call, and preparing a digest of each vote; preparing a series of maps showing the evolution of the boundaries of the federal district courts; and preparing a list and index of presidential executive orders through 1936. This effort resulted in the publication of List and Index of Presidential Executive Orders (Hastings House, 1944) and the first volume (of a projected eighty-eight) of the Atlas of Congressional Roll Calls (New York State Historical Association, 1943). He also collaborated with his wife Elizabeth in the compilation and publication of the Historical Atlas of the United States (Henry Holt, 1944).
Between September 1941 and March 1946, Mr. Lord served as the Director of the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) in Cooperstown. He worked at gathering together the base collections of its Farmers' Museum. He also started a junior historians program and reformed and refocused the operations of the museum library. He was the editor of the association's quarterly magazine (New York History), and the author of several booklets and pamphlets on New York history.
During the years 1943 through 1946, while on a leave of absence from the NYSHA, he served on active duty with the United States Naval Reserve reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. During that time he was appointed historian of the Bureau of Aeronautics and Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (Air). He was assigned to prepare a classified internal history of the administration of the Navy's aviation program. This work eventually reached a total of twenty manuscript volumes. He also co-authored the official History of Naval Aviation, 1889-1941 (Yale, 1949).
Clifford Lord was appointed as Director of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin (SHSW) in September 1946. He held this post for twelve years until August 1958. During his directorship, the membership of the society more than doubled, the level of state and private funding rose fivefold, and the society's headquarters building was completely renovated. Other accomplishments include the creation of a state archives and a model public records program, the formation of a regional depository system, the start of an experimental federal documents loan program, the establishment of the Mass Communications History Center, a doubling of the size of the manuscripts collection, and the acquisition of the McCormick collection.
The society's collecting program was improved with the creation of a field service, and its interaction with the public was enhanced with the introduction of both a Junior Historian program and a Historymobile tour. Lord worked vigorously for the development of the society's first historic sites --Villa Louis, Stonefield Farm and Craft Museum, and Old Wade House. He was also active in the development of three independent museums--the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, the Wisconsin Medical Museum in Prairie du Chien, and the Circus World Museum in Baraboo (later acquired by the society).
Clifford Lord also established the American History Research Center at Wisconsin which published a number of books on regional and local history. In 1958, in cooperation with Carl Ubbelohde, he wrote the definitive history of the society --Clio's Servant (SHSW, 1967).
Between 1956 and 1960, Lord was president of the American Association for State and Local History, having served on its council for fifteen years. He was also vice-president of the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay from 1956 to 1963. Additionally, he served as chairman of the advisory council of the American History Research Center from 1951 to 1959.
Clifford Lord was named as Dean of the School of General Studies at Columbia University in September 1958. In addition to his supervisory duties, he also taught a graduate seminar each semester. During his tenure, he was instrumental in the equalization of faculty salaries with teaching loads; in the creation of an honors program and an area studies program; and in the renovation of Lewisohn Hall.
In September 1964, he was appointed to the presidency of Hofstra University in Hampstead, Long Island. The Hofstra trustees felt that he combined the qualities of a “scholar-administrator, with a record of broad and successful experience, a man deeply committed to improving the role of higher education in the society that it serves.” In 1972, he was appointed chancellor of the university. He was instrumental in transforming Hofstra from a commuter school into a major university. He created both the law and business schools, as well as the first six doctoral programs. He oversaw the rebuilding of major portions of the campus adding twenty-one buildings on sixty-two acres. He created residence halls, doubled the size of the university's endowment, and achieved professional accreditation for programs in business, chemistry, drama, education, engineering, and law.
In August 1973, he left Hoftstra to take a position as president of the Hudson Institute in Croton-on-Hudson, New York. This was a international and economic policy “think tank” of about eighty employees founded by Herman Kahn. Lord was responsible for overall management of the institute. This included staff supervision, management of projects, budget creation and control, and the solicitation of grants and new research contracts. He stayed in this position for little more than one year before resigning in a dispute with the chairman of the board over policy and budgetary issues.
In 1975, he was one of three final candidates for the position of Librarian of Congress. He worked as a project consultant for both the New York State Maritime Museum and the Philadelphia Maritime Museum between 1975 and 1977. In 1976, he was awarded the American Association for State and Local History's Award of Distinction. He also lead an assessment team from the Middle States Association of Colleges to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis that same year.
In 1977 at the age of sixty-four, he accepted an appointment as director of the New Jersey Historical Society. At the time, this organization was suffering from severe budgetary constraints, falling membership, an aging facility, and a lack of a clear mission. Lord assumed the post because he felt “inclined to one last, perhaps forlorn, but challenging assignment.” During his brief stewardship he strove to increase both state and private funding; he initiated the first programs to document New Jersey's ethnic heritage; he created proposals to overhaul the society's administrative and corporate structure; and he initiated a shakeup of the staff. Although his ideas were met with increasing resistance from the society's governing body, Lord was intent on persevering with a policy of thoroughgoing reform.
In 1978, Clifford Lord's wife Elizabeth was diagnosed with cancer, and she died in January 1979. Shortly thereafter, he was also diagnosed as having a malignant tumor. After successful medical treatment, Lord returned to his duties as director. However, he resigned his position in the Fall of 1979 due both to his illness and because of opposition to his programs from within the society. Clifford Lord died of cancer on October 22, 1980.
Some of his other publications include Ideas In Conflict: A Colloquium On Certain Problems In Historical Society Work (ed., Harrisburg, 1958), Keepers of the Past (North Carolina, 1965), and Teaching History With Community Resources (Teachers College Press, 1967).
